


On The Many Uses Of Tea

by SelenaTerna



Series: Legends Like Stardust Prompts [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon verse, F/M, Fluff, Prompt Fic, Romance, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 02:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11244267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaTerna/pseuds/SelenaTerna
Summary: Rose learns about the many uses of tea.





	On The Many Uses Of Tea

**Author's Note:**

> Hi lovelies! Here we have my response for this week's Legends Like Stardust Drabble prompt 'tea'. This is made up of a series of long 'drabbles' (honestly this stopped being in any way a drabble ages ago), and it's a little different from my usual, so I'm a bit nervous about it. Hope it's OK and please excuse the ridiculous length!
> 
> On with the show!

Rose had learned many things in her time on the TARDIS, and among the most useful were the many (and sometimes unexpected) uses of tea.

** _I. As a remedy for discomfort or displacement_ **

_It stood to reason that feelings of displacement and discomfort would be soothed by a nice cup of tea._

_____

It wasn’t that she didn’t love travelling in the TARDIS, because she did. She loved the life she led now and she wouldn’t trade travelling in the stars, and travelling with the Doctor, for anything. 

But sometimes, after a particularly harrowing adventure, or a very unusual adventure, or even a very _enjoyable_ adventure (and frankly, sometimes for no reason at all) she would feel a slight disquiet in her stomach, a sense of displacement, as though she didn’t quite _fit_ in her skin anymore. It made her feel uncomfortable, and not quite herself. During those those times, her mum’s harping about coming home to live a ‘normal’ life, that Rose was forgetting who and what she was, would make her particularly furious. Her mum loved her, she knew that, but she didn’t understand, _couldn’t_ understand that Rose’s home was _here_ , now, and had been ever since a big-eared alien with blue eyes that burned with the fires of time itself had grabbed her hand and told her to run. Her home could never be anywhere else, ever again, because the TARDIS was home. Because _he_ was home.

So, during those times, she’d make herself a cup of tea with milk and honey, the way her mum did, and it would soothe her. The familiar flavours, the comforting sensation of hot tea warming her up from the inside would settle her stomach, the discomfort would fade, and she would feel like herself again. Eventually, the TARDIS would sing her to sleep and she’d rest comfortably in the arms of time itself.

 

**_I I. As a means of distraction and self-soothing _ **

_Of course, sometimes the tea-drinking itself was less important than the comforting, distracting process of making it._

______

“Rosie? What are you doing up? Thought you hit the sack hours ago.”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep, so thought I’d make a cuppa.”

Jack shook his head in bemusement. “I’ll never understand this obsession you have with tea. Is _everyone_ obsessed with it in the twenty-first century? Are there any tea leaves _left_ on earth, for that matter?”

She rolled her eyes as she filled the kettle and placed it on the stove. “Prat.”

“I’m serious!” He insisted, grinning. “Maybe that’s what really launches human exploration across the universe- they ran out of tea! I can see the first mission now- _The Tea Quest: The Search for More Leaves.”_

 She rolled her eyes and tried to suppress a smile, because really, it was no good letting him think he was funny- his head was big enough as it was. “Oh, go on.”

He smirked, before his smile faded. “But you’re OK?”

“Course!” She tried to smile. “Just couldn’t sleep.”

He looked at her knowingly. “Not surprising after what we saw today. Those kids-”

“’M fine,” she cut in, not wanting to talk about it, not wanting to remember the tiny faces frozen in terror. She focused on carefully and precisely laying out the tea tray. “Just restless. A nice cuppa’ll put me to rights. Want one?”

He shook his head in reply and watched as she busied herself with preparing a tea tray for two.

Rose moved deliberately, the comforting routine so familiar that she barely noticed how her intently she focused on her task. She didn’t notice how carefully she poured the tea into the Doctor’s favourite mug and then her own, how precisely she placed each biscuit on the plate- three chocolate for her and four jam-filled for the Doctor. She just let the familiar motions soothe her turbulent emotions and avoid Jack’s questioning gaze.

Finally ready, her emotions settled slightly, she picked up the tray and smiled at him on the way out to the console room.

 

** _III. As a means of avoidance_ **

_Sometimes, neither the tea nor the process of making the tea were of any benefit, and the only thing that mattered was the opportunity for escape that it afforded._

______

“Rose, are you alright?”

“Yeah.” She forced her mind away from the horrors she’d witnessed on the planet Misad, and her brief time as a prisoner there, and tried to smile.  They were safe in the vortex now and she refused to dwell on it. “Just tired.”

The Doctor shrugged out of his leather jacket and draped it over the console, those piercing blue eyes watching her knowingly all the while.  “Doubt that, me. Was a rough day, Rose, rougher than most.”

“I am, though!” She insisted. “’M fine, Doctor.”

He frowned. “Rose -”

“I’m fine,” she cut in, a little desperately. “I- I need a cuppa though.” She swallowed and tried to smile. “You want one while I’m at it?”

She knew he wanted to check her over in the Medbay, knew he’d want to make sure that her body and mind were sound and intact. She’d let him- they both knew that- but just…later.

Now…now she just needed to get away for a moment.

Just for a moment.

His eyes bored into her for a moment longer, before his gaze softened. “Might as well, thanks. Just milk.”

She almost managed a smile at the familiar words from what seemed so very, very long ago. “Won’t be a mo’.”

She knew she’d only escaped because he’d let her and if anything, it made her love him more.

Because he understood. 

 

** _IV. As a means of comfort_ **

_Sometimes, of course, the tea itself was needed for comfort, and it was all the more comforting when it came from the hand of a loving, affectionate friend._

____

Rose tried very hard not to cry as Jack pressed a cup of tea into her hand, but it was a near thing. “Thanks,” she said quietly.

“Anytime, Rosie.” The former Time Agent slipped into the chair across the table. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?”

She tried to smile. “Nothing. ‘M fine.”

Jack cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. “C’mon Rosie, I know you better than that.”

“”M fine,” she repeated, willing him to drop the matter.

He gazed at her for a moment and sighed. “You’re thinking about what Policus said, aren’t you.” 

It was a statement, not a question, and Rose flinched to think she was so easy to read. She pretended to focus on her tea. “Why would I be thinkin’ about that?”

Jack fixed her with a look. “Maybe because you haven’t said two words together since we left Kiaasa?” He glanced towards the empty doorway and lowered his voice. “Maybe because you haven’t so much as looked the Doc in eye since that lowlife spewed his poison?”

Rose sighed tiredly. “Honestly, ’s nothin’ I haven’t heard before.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “You’d better not be telling me you believe it. You know he was sore that you rejected him and he was just trying to hurt you.”

She shrugged. “’S all true, though, innit? Everything he said was true. I’m a primitive being with no intellect, no education, no breedin’ and what was the last one?” She frowned for a moment. “Oh yeah. I’m ‘a barely evolved ape reaching for the stars’.”

“Rose Tyler!” Jack snapped. “You know damn well and good that’s a load of bull. The Doctor doesn't see you that way and neither do I. Don’t you dare give that bastard a moment’s thought and don’t you dare give up on the Doctor.”

“Just drop it, Jack,” she sighed, rubbing tiredly at her face. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“How can you say it doesn’t matter that you _think_ that about yourself?” He demanded. “How does it not matter that you’re letting that bastard stop you from pursuing the man you love?

“I told you, it’s not the first time I’ve heard stuff like that.”

“That doesn’t make it _true_!” Jack said heatedly. “It’s not true, Rosie, none of it!”

She smiled slightly at his vehement defence of her. “’s fine, Jack. And honestly? that wanker is right.” She barked a laugh. “Sometimes I forget how much _more_ The Doctor is, you know? I forget he’s a Time Lord, that he’s the last of the most powerful species, the wisest species in the universe. I just…I just see _him_ -that mad, grinning, beautiful alien and I forget that he’s much more than I’ll ever be.” She blinked back tears. “‘M nothing compared to him, and I was stupid to ever think he might…” She sniffed. “I was stupid to forget that.”

Jack’s expression softened, and he stood and made his way over to her, slipping an arm about her shoulders. “Rosie, Policus was being an arsehole and aiming for your soft spot because everybody and his brother can see how you and the Doctor feel about each other. You know the Doctor loves you. _I_ know he loves you.”

“Jack, just drop it,” she pleaded, her voice cracking. “Please? I just…I can’t, right now.”

She heard him sigh and then he got up and clattered around. Moments later, he gently prised the mug of tea from her hands. “It’s cold,” he said softly. “Take this one- it’s fresh.”

Giving him a watery smile, she sipped the warm tea and let it soothe her. It helped, just a tiny bit. There was nothing like a hot cuppa on a blue day, and especially from the hand of a friend.

Neither of them noticed the Doctor in the doorway.

 

** _V. As an expression of affection_ **

_What really surprised her, however, was that tea could be used to express affection just as much as words could._

_____

“Rose,” a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

Rose groaned, not wanting to leave her wonderful dreamworld, and burrowed more deeply into her pillow, which for some reason was rather warm, and sinewy and felt decidedly not like a pillow. It also smelled like sandalwood and _time_.

It smelled like the Doctor.

Her eyes shot open and she was greeted by a pair of piercing blue eyes and a soft, gentle smile.

Blinking, she saw that the pillow she’d been sleeping on was in fact the Doctor’s shoulder.

The Doctor’s _naked_ shoulder.

Swallowing, she shifted slightly against him and gasped when she noticed the rest of him also appeared to be naked.

So was she for that matter. Had they…last night, her dreams of words of love…their lovemaking…had it really _happened_?

“Morning, love,” the Doctor said, dropping a soft kiss on her lips.

_Oh._

It hadn’t been a dream, then.

“Morning,” she said, momentarily shy, and buried her face in his shoulder. Unable to help herself, she lightly pressed her lips to his skin, and felt him shudder.

Her heart sang at how strongly he reacted to her slightest touch and her shyness melted clean away. She suddenly felt very happy and very, very smug.

“Are you…alright?” He sounded uncertain, almost worried, and she wasn’t having any of that.

Shifting, she tilted her head back and looked him in the eye. “Brilliant,” she beamed. “Better than.”

He smiled, then, the soft smile that nobody ever saw but her. 

She revelled in the thought that it was _her_ smile. 

“Fantastic,” he said huskily, kissing her again, and more thoroughly, this time. When he finally drew back, Rose had decided they never needed to leave the bed again, and every adventure they wanted could be found right here.

So she was understandably a little confused and not a little put out when he pulled away from her and slipped out of the bed. She pouted when he grabbed his jeans from the floor and slipped them on (although she had absolutely _no_ objections to the view she had when he bent to retrieve them from the floor). She blushed when he caught her looking.

“Back in a mo,” he told her, his gaze smouldering.

True to his word, moments later, he had returned with two steaming mugs of tea. He handed her one and kept the other as he slipped back into bed beside her.

They both sipped their tea in contented silence, his arm about her shoulders. The fact that he’d taken the time to find her favourite mug, that he’d prepared it a little stronger, the way she preferred it in the mornings, and that he had brought it to share with her in a rare moment of domestic quiet, in _their_ bed, as he’d told her last night, made her heart feel very, very full.

Because he’d made her tea.

Because he knew how she took her tea.

Because he was happy to sit still long enough to drink tea with her.

Because he was drinking tea with her, in _their_ bed.

Because she knew he loved her and she was very, very happy.

* * *

_Fin._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, I'm at countessselena.tumblr.com.


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